(=a=) _The absurd superstition that our heads are getting larger and that the pelves of women are getting smaller._ Doctors are persuaded that the difficulty of modern childbirth must be due to “Progress.” And, since “Progress” is erroneously connected in their own and most people’s minds with the belief that men are growing more intelligent (which quite obviously they are not), the facile conclusion is reached that, as our brains must be growing larger, our heads must follow suit. It is hardly necessary to say that this is sheer nonsense, and no more than an indolent excuse for the Conservative stagnation of the medical brotherhood. The heads of modern people are certainly not larger than the heads of their ancestors ten thousand years ago (_vide_ Keith’s _Antiquity of_ _Man_); and as to the shrinking of women’s hips, this also is an invention. It is certainly found, but only where the pelvis is rachitic, or where undue strains on the thighs in early childhood (in violent games, etc.) have led to a premature stiffening of the fleshy, and a premature ossification of the bony, parts. At all events, it is much less common than is usually supposed; and, in any case, it is very seldom that there is any disproportion between the sizes of the foetus and the pelvis. See, however, how convenient the explanation is—Increasing brains, larger heads, and shrinking pelves!—The doctors, shrugging their shoulders before this apparently vicious circle, can quietly resign themselves, _à la_ Walrus and Carpenter, to a permanent engagement as artificial functionaries to supersede a perfectly natural human function; and, what is more, they need feel no dread about growing thinner or poorer themselves as time goes on, nor trouble to discover how normal functioning can be recovered. (=b=) _The still more absurd superstition that a baby should be 8 or 9 lbs at birth._ This is universal in England, and whether it is the daily newspapers over the birth of a prince, or a poor woman’s neighbours over the birth of a new pauper, everybody is jubilant if an 8-lb baby is born. It may have required a team from Harley Street to deliver it, and it may, and usually does, lose weight after birth; but all this does not matter: nobody cares, nobody troubles to think, provided that it has registered the full 8 lbs in the first hour of its existence. Unfortunate women, permanently injured by instruments, smile triumphantly over the thought that they have had a baby-boy weighing 9 lbs. But what can we expect when their doctors encourage them in these lunatic transports?